Modern aircraft are designed to carry, release, and deliver on target a wide variety of weapons including bombs, missiles, rockets and other stores which are hung on the underside of the aircraft by an ejector rack. Typical racks are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,043,525 and 4,347,777, which are incorporated herein by reference. The aircraft typically include a release mechanism for releasing the store and an ejector ram for forcibly ejecting the store away from the aircraft.
One type of ejection system uses pyrotechnic cartridges which generate high pressure gas for actuating the release mechanism and actuating the ejector ram to forcibly eject the store away from the aircraft. While pyrotechnic cartridges provide a low weight system, these systems also have certain undesirable characteristics including high maintenance costs. When the cartridges are fired the chemical burning of the explosive charge results in a large amount of residue, containing moisture and corrosives, being deposited within the system. If the ejection system is not properly disassembled and cleaned after a certain number of firings, the system will quickly become corroded and unreliable. Furthermore, storage and handling of the pyrotechnic cartridges poses a possible safety risk for maintenance personnel.
Another type of ejection system is a cold gas ejection system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,583,312, which is incorporated herein by reference. The release mechanism and ejector ram are actuated pneumatically by air received from an on-board compressor system. The compressor system provides an initial charge for an ejection system accumulator and means for recharging the accumulator in flight to account for pressure drop due to temperature changes.
While the cold gas ejection system provides operational benefits by eliminating the build-up of residue and corrosive materials produced by pyrotechnic cartridges, certain aircraft may not have the additional volume required for the on-board compressor. In addition, the compressor system adds weight to the aircraft.